WE TRIED TLS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer
Chapter 251 | Is There Meaning? (5)
I didn’t really want to leave a mark on this world. I wasn’t attached enough to it to want to be remembered as myself rather than as the “Demon Knight.”
In that same vein, I also didn’t want to garner unneeded sympathy by sharing my circumstances. I knew the sympathy this world’s people felt for me was more fleeting than their pursuit of profit, so I just said nothing.
But what if telling someone my story could get me a vital clue?
What if I could shake the heart of someone who didn’t intend to kill me but might know something?
Then I could tell them. I could tell them a hundred times.
I was someone who valued finding a way to return home a lot more than my pride.
> [So that’s why… Are they actually insane?! Summoning a soul from another world? No matter how much this involves a Demon possessing your body, that’s definitely crossing a line!]
On another note… Wasn’t this guy getting a bit too angry? All I expected was… maybe a bit of shock and some mild pity, saying stuff like “You poor little thing, tsk tsk.”
“…I thought you hated me.”
> [That was when I thought you were, like, Demon Vessel No. 1 or something!]
“It doesn’t really change things much, though.”
> [It definitely changes things! It changes everything! It seriously does!]
Right, the Land Turtle had only ever shown itself as blunt, irritable, and hostile.
The only reason it’d left me alone was because it didn’t have the power to kill me itself, nor the will to rile up others to do so, but anyone could clearly see that it seriously hated me.
> [Uuurgh. This is seriously unbelievable. Bringing over a soul from another world? Over what? A bet? Are you kidding me?! Just because the consequences won’t fall on them or something? It’s fine because they’re already being called a Demon, huh?! This is just messed up! Seriously messed up!!]
I could still vividly remember the Land Turtle telling me to just drink my porridge when I had trouble eating, or I should just lie down and sleep because hearing me groan was annoying, or how it kept nitpicking every tiny thing…
Seeing them make a complete 180 honestly made the back of my neck itch. I hadn’t expected this at all, so I felt rather awkward listening to them react like that.
> [And what about the original owner of that body?! That damn Demon aside, what the hell is with them?!!]
Also, wasn’t it yelling a bit too loudly? If it continued like this, the others would surely wake up, right?
I glanced around nervously while the Land Turtle continued their rant. I felt it was only a matter of time before either the Mountain Lord or the priests—some had been staying close to the cave entrance—woke up.
> [It’s one thing to realize you can’t clean up that piece of shit called a Demon and ask others for help. That’s fine! But couldn’t they at least have chosen someone from their own goddamn world?! Why did they have to drag someone from another dimension here?!]
Luckily, no one had woken up yet. Perhaps the Land Turtle’s words only sounded loud to me, but in reality, it sounded more like aggressive chirping or something. That was kind of relieving.
> [And you! You’re part of the problem too!! Why are you just keeping all this to yourself?! Do you think if you just grit your teeth and wait it out, people will magically gain the ability to read your mind and treat you like they should?! You think the world’s just going to know, is that it?! Are you stupid?!!]
It was fortunate only I could hear it, but wasn’t it getting seriously irritated right now?
> [Are you even listening to me, you punk!!]
“…I am—I’m listening.”
The way it shrieked at the top of its lungs and pounded the ground, unable to control its temper, seriously reminded me of my late grandmother, so I almost started unconsciously addressing it with honorifics.
I really hoped it hadn’t noticed that minor slip-up… Well, since it was too busy nagging, I supposed that didn’t really matter.
> [Then why didn’t you say anything to me?!]
“Because even if I did, it’s not like my situation would take priority…?”
> [That’s…!]
Man, but speaking to it informally was seriously hard.
The moment I’d shared my circumstances, I caught myself almost breaking character multiple times, darting around my eyes in panic. Tap, tap. The Land Turtle smacked a nearby rock as if to express its frustration.
> […Th-that’s true.]
It was going to end up hurting itself like that.
I quietly stared at the place where the Land Turtle was sitting. The nest was covered with neatly dried reeds, and the floor beneath was cushioned with fluffy moss, so why was it explicitly hitting the rocky ground of all places? Didn’t it hurt?
> [The sorrow of one world and the sorrow of one life carry different weights, after all.]
While I was thinking that, the Land Turtle lowered its head gloomily. Its head buried between its fins reminded me of a little kid crouching down with their hands on their knees.
> […So that’s why you ran away?]
“…Yeah.”
It was kind of cute seeing this tiny turtle, only slightly bigger than my palm, acting like that.
Allowing my mind to entertain such thoughts, I belatedly realized that our conversation was veering somewhat off track. If this kept going, someone might end up waking up!
“So what’s the answer?”
> [You know, I’ve been meaning to say this for a while now, but you really speak extremely rudely no matter the situation.]
“…”
> [Also, you never clearly told me what your question was.]
I tried to hurry things along, so I pressed them for an answer and got smacked right in the face with facts.
Right, the Land Turtle was definitely a being that had lived for thousands of years. Compared to them, I was just a young kid who hadn’t even lived for fifty years.
It was a bit strange for something that obviously wasn’t even a mortal to be so fixated on manners, but anyway, it was enough reason for it to feel annoyed. I snuck a glance at the Land Turtle’s expression.
“I would like to know… if there’s any way to hide Demonic Energy besides sealing it.”
I suspected it’d answer me even without me acting more politely… but I didn’t particularly mind showing it at least some respect. Now that I’d revealed my circumstances to it, maintaining that rude act was rather exhausting.
> […There’s nothing you can do.]
More than anything, I wanted to be polite.
I listened to the Land Turtle’s answer, feeling as though I’d just unbuttoned the collar of a stiff shirt. It seemed the change in my tone had also softened its mood, considering it continued much more gently than before.
> [You’d either have to seal it, kill the Demon, completely suppress it with a stronger power, or convert the Demonic Energy into Arcane Power. But if any of that were possible, you wouldn’t be asking me that to begin with, right?]
“Purification…”
> [No good. Purification can only be done when the Demon has already been separated from the body and the original owner is still alive. But in your case…]
They trailed off as if in thought before providing me with an analogy.
> [Let’s say you have a sack of flour, and someone threw a single apple into it. Getting that apple out without damaging the flour wouldn’t be much of an issue. Unless the apple was crushed in the process, already smashed to begin with, or just in there for far too long.]
I more or less understood what it meant. So… I was like the sack of flour an apple had been left in for way too long?
> [But in your case, it’s like… someone threw in a rotten apple, a crushed apple, and sprinkled a handful of dirt on top of the flour. There’s no way to separate the flour.]
I stood corrected. It was even worse than that.
“Then…?”
> [Honestly, at this point, I think even killing that Demon might not solve the problem. You, well, the body you’re using, has been fused with that Demon for far too long. It’s not even a normal person’s body anymore. To be honest… Hmm.]
So was it telling me that if the Demon died, so would this body?
I calmly waited for its next words, trying to suppress the complicated emotions about to bubble out.
* * *
WE TRIED TLS
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> [Ah, wait a second. Is that why?]
The Land Turtle suddenly let out an exclamation.
“…?”
> [I was wondering why they’d bring in a soul from another world… But if that’s the reason, it actually makes some semblance of sense.]
“…Do I owe you another answer in return?”
> [No, that’s fine. Of course, I wouldn’t refuse, but I’ll give this one for free. After all, you’re a victim who got caught up in the messy circumstances of this world.]
It was good to hear that it would tell me more without requiring another question… but just what had they done for it to act like that? I stayed quiet and waited for it to speak.
> [Before I tell you, I have to give you two warnings. First, this is just my theory, so it could be wrong—of course, it’s a lot more likely to be right, but still. Second, once you hear what I have to say, you might regret it.]
“…Is it really that serious?”
> [Ah, well. It’s not just the content itself but the fact that you’ll know. Have you ever heard the saying ‘Ignorance is bliss’? Once you know, there’s no going back.]
Even before I heard the actual explanation, its preamble already sounded like the prelude to misery and pain.
> [So, do you still want to hear it?]
“…”
But would I tremble and run just from those warnings? Should I just continue my previous behavior and stumble around blindly in the dark, afraid of the unknown?
“I’ll hear it.”
I didn’t want that. I absolutely didn’t.
I’d already struggled enough, so at this point, I’d rather know and regret it than wander around in ignorance one second longer.
> [Alright, if you’re prepared, then fine.]
My tightly shut eyelids felt hot for some reason.
> [The reason the Demon and the original owner of this body brought in a soul from another world was probably to conceal themselves in ignorance. They were using a kind of loophole built around the rule that ‘perception proves existence’… First of all, it’s a rule that doesn’t apply to this world. Beings bound to this world’s order can’t use it even if they wanted to. They needed a being like you, governed by a different set of rules.]
“…Could you perhaps explain in more detail?”
> [Hmm. Sure. It’s a rather tough concept for mortals to grasp, though.]
The Land Turtle gently stroked their chin with their flipper, like a human would stroke a beard, and let out some noises.
> [This rule is… exactly what it sounds like. If you don’t perceive something or actively don’t believe in something, then it doesn’t exist. If you don’t acknowledge a god, that god doesn’t exist. If you decide Demons aren’t real, they disappear. Of course, there are other conditions, like how commonly shared beliefs have higher priority and so on…]
“…I’m not trying to argue here, but when I first woke up in this body, I had no idea there was a Demon inside me. So why didn’t the Demon disappear? Does this also fall under those other conditions?”
> [Ah, that’s not it. That’s just because the worlds are different.]
“…What do you mean?”
> [So, it’s like… the loophole itself only works because of ‘your soul,’ but the Demon belongs to a different order, so the rule doesn’t fully apply to it.]
After hearing all of that, I had a single thought.
What the hell was it talking about?
> [How do I even explain this?]
As if noticing my frustration, the Land Turtle tapped the ground with its flipper.
> [Your world is one where existence is defined by perception. Ours isn’t. That’s point one.]
“Yeah.”
> [Also, under the law I mentioned earlier, anything you don’t perceive doesn’t exist. But again, our world doesn’t work like that. That’s point two.]
“Yeah.”
> [So now we have quite the contradiction, like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, right? That’s exactly where the concept of ‘concealment through ignorance’ comes in. Something that doesn’t exist but still does.]
“…So you’re saying it seems to be gone, but it actually still exists?”
> [Exactly. As long as you’re unaware of it, it doesn’t exist for you. But that doesn’t mean it’s truly gone. You’re just acting as a screen and ‘pretending it doesn’t exist.’]
I finally started to understand a little.
“…But even back when I was completely unaware of it, there were still people who could sense Demonic Energy coming from me.”
But if what the Land Turtle was saying was true, why did my first encounter with the Inquisitor happen like it did? At that time, I only thought of the Demon in my right arm as part of my character setting and didn’t believe it truly existed, so why did the Inquisitor sense Demonic Energy from me?
> [That’s because of the difference in scale. You might be using your world’s rules, but you’re still just one soul. If that alone was enough to completely conceal a Great Demon, wouldn’t that be a real problem? Honestly, I’m surprised you were able to conceal it as much as you did.]
With that, my doubts were more or less cleared up. I wasn’t completely satisfied with this, but I couldn’t really say anything against it if that was just how this world worked.
> [Anyway, that’s not the important part. They almost certainly brought you here to use ‘Ignorance concealment.’ You may not realize it, but… your body, now that you know the truth, has become even closer to a Demon’s. If you don’t find a way to suppress it, people will be able to sense it from hundreds of meters away, you know?]
“…That’s not very encouraging news.”
> [I told you. Once you know, there’s no turning back.]
Shit. It was nice and all that I’d managed to resolve my curiosity, but learning the answer ultimately hurt me. Was this really the right way? Could I really return home like this?
“…Then, is it possible that’s why the one who dragged me to this world never explained anything?”
That suddenly resurfaced in my mind, remembering how the “System” never said a single word, even when I begged. It just remained silent.
I’d always just written them off as a cruel, selfish, and sadistic bastard who did all of this on purpose… but was there actually a reason for their silence?
> [That’s very likely. Otherwise, wouldn’t that make this guy a bastard who’d haul someone across dimensions just to clean up his Demon mess without so much as a single explanation? If that’s the case, they should be beaten to death.]
“…I see.”
I exhaled, feeling extreme frustration. Even I had no idea what kind of emotions were concealed within the unraveling threads of my breath.
“So that’s what it was.”
Still, one thing was certain…
Among all the harsh things I’d thrown at whoever might be hiding behind the System, such as being cold-blooded and heartless, there were some I might have to take back.
If I ever got the chance to speak with them, that is, once all of this was over. And if it turned out that they’d really wanted to tell me but didn’t for my sake—oh, don’t get me wrong here, by the way. Even if I felt some sympathy for them, I’d still curse them out. I mean, fuck, what kind of warped logic lead them to kidnap someone and then just shut their trap? If they’d actually cared, maybe they shouldn’t have brought me here to begin with or at least asked for my consent first, you punk—if they’d really done this to protect me… then maybe I could change “selfish, cruel, and heartless bastard” to something like “still selfish, but at least tried to care for me in their own messed up way, bastard.”
If I ever got the chance to learn the truth, that is.
> […Are you starting to feel sorry for the guy who summoned you?]
“I’m not that much of a pushover.”
It was just… if the person who diverted the train tracks to save five people ever went to apologize to the one who got crushed, they might actually show understanding.
But understanding and forgiveness were two very different things.
I mean, they completely messed up my life, so why should I forgive them? Even if they saved five people in the process, I still got sacrificed, you know?
Sacrifice is only noble when done by your own choice. If someone else made that choice for you, it sure as hell wasn’t a noble sacrifice but a live offering.
“I’m going to beat them half to death when I get the chance.”
So I was definitely going to fuck up the bastard responsible for this. No, I would absolutely wreck them. As I’d said, understanding and forgiveness were two very different things.
> [Yeah, that’s more like it.]
And with that, the Land Turtle shrugged slightly at my firm response.
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